Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to impress for Greece in World Cup play, and this was just the latest demonstration of the unique set of skills he brings to the game.

Antetokounmpo comes from the low block to strip Renaldo Balkman, and once he gathers possession, he needs only one dribble to get from half court all the way to the rim, where he is able to convert the difficult and-1 finish.

Greece is undefeated through its first three games of pool play, while Antetokounmpo has averaged 9.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in just under 19 minutes per contest.

When Paul George went down with a season-ending injury during USA Basketball’s showcase in Las Vegas, many wondered how players would react, and whether or not they might choose to sit out international play in the future, foregoing the risk while saving themselves for the rigors of the NBA season instead.

Some may indeed consider things more carefully moving forward. But just about everyone who was already committed this summer decided to stick it out, and the result is a record number of current NBA players slated to compete in the FIBA World Cup which begins on Saturday.

From the official release:

A record 45 current NBA players will be featured on national team rosters for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, up from 44 in 2010. The tournament features a record 75 players who have played in the NBA.

The World Cup will showcase 17 former NBA draftees whose rights are currently held by NBA teams, bringing the total number of current NBA players, former NBA players and NBA draftees participating in the tournament to a record 92.

Twenty-one of 24 national teams feature at least one current NBA player, former NBA player or NBA draftee, and 22 NBA teams are represented on national team rosters.

The stars of the league might decide to skip the Worlds in future seasons, but only a handful are good enough to be selected for the Olympics, and lesser events like these are the only chance for many players to represent their respective countries in international competition.

The entire list of players with NBA experience who (as of Aug. 29) are scheduled to compete in the FIBA World Cup is reprinted below.

The following is a complete list of current NBA players on 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup rosters:

COUNTRY

NBA PLAYER

NBA TEAM

Argentina

Luis Scola

Indiana Pacers

Argentina

Pablo Prigioni

New York Knicks

Australia

Cameron Bairstow

Chicago Bulls

Australia

Matthew Dellavedova

Cleveland Cavaliers

Australia

Dante Exum

Utah Jazz

Australia

Brock Motum

Utah Jazz

Brazil

Anderson Varejao

Cleveland Cavaliers

Brazil

Tiago Splitter

San Antonio Spurs

Brazil

Nenê

Washington Wizards

Croatia

Bojan Bodgdanovic

Brooklyn Nets

Croatia

Damjan Rudez

Indiana Pacers

Dominican Republic

Francisco Garcia

Houston Rockets

Finland

Erik Murphy

Cleveland Cavaliers

France

Evan Fournier

Orlando Magic

France

Nicolas Batum

Portland Trail Blazers

France

Boris Diaw

San Antonio Spurs

France

Rudy Gobert

Utah Jazz

Greece

Kostas Papanikolaou

Houston Rockets

Greece

Nick Calathes

Memphis Grizzlies

Greece

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Milwaukee Bucks

Lithuania

Donatas Motiejunas

Houston Rockets

Lithuania

Jonas Valanciunas

Toronto Raptors

Mexico

Jorge Gutierrez

Brooklyn Nets

Puerto Rico

J.J. Barea

Minnesota Timberwolves

Senegal

Gorgui Dieng

Minnesota Timberwolves

Slovenia

Goran Dragić

Phoenix Suns

Spain

Pau Gasol

Chicago Bulls

Spain

Marc Gasol

Memphis Grizzlies

Spain

Ricky Rubio

Minnesota Timberwolves

Spain

José Calderon

New York Knicks

Spain

Serge Ibaka

Oklahoma City Thunder

Spain

Victor Claver

Portland Trail Blazers

Turkey

Omer Asik

New Orleans Pelicans

United States

Mason Plumlee

Brooklyn Nets

United States

Derrick Rose

Chicago Bulls

United States

Kyrie Irving

Cleveland Cavaliers

United States

Kenneth Faried

Denver Nuggets

United States

Andre Drummond

Detroit Pistons

United States

Stephen Curry

Golden State Warriors

United States

Klay Thompson

Golden State Warriors

United States

James Harden

Houston Rockets

United States

Anthony Davis

New Orleans Pelicans

United States

DeMarcus Cousins

Sacramento Kings

United States

Rudy Gay

Sacramento Kings

United States

DeMar DeRozan

Toronto Raptors

The following is a complete list of NBA free agents on 2014 FIBA World Cup rosters:

COUNTRY

NBA PLAYER

MOST RECENT NBA TEAM

Australia

Aron Baynes

San Antonio Spurs

Brazil

Leandro Barbosa

Phoenix Suns

Mexico

Gustavo Ayon

Atlanta Hawks

Philippines

Andray Blatche

Brooklyn Nets

Serbia

Miroslav Raduljica

Los Angeles Clippers

The following is a complete list of former NBA players on 2014 FIBA World Cup rosters*:

We know the NBA players that fill out not only Team USA but other World Cup rosters are loaded as well — 45 guys currently on NBA teams will be playing in Spain. Guys like Goran Dragic suits up for Slovenia, or Rudy Gobert, Boris Diaw, Evan Fournier, and Ian Mahinmi will play for France. You get the idea.

The biggest names among them are Carlos Arroyo and Renaldo Balkman (both of whom play for Puerto Rico), Rudy Fernandez and Juan Carlos Navarro (Spain), and Andres Nocioni (Argentina).

Schuhmann makes another interesting observation: There are 17 other players drafted by NBA players who have been stashed overseas who will also be on World Cup rosters.

There’s Croatia’s Dario Saric, who the 76ers picked up in the last draft. There is Raul Neto playing for Brazil and maybe someday the Jazz. Bogdan Bogdanovic will be part of a pretty good Serbian team and could someday play for the Suns.

Team USA still has more depth of talent than any other team in the world — but there is talent all over the globe now. The days of the USA cruising to gold are fading. Fast.

In the case of Melo his possible return to the NBA some day will be dictated by his willingness to develop his game. There have been rumors questioning his maturity and desire to work at his game since he entered the league. The fact Memphis was willing to eat his $1.3 million salary this year to let him go before camp even started should speak to that.

Drafted No. 22 by the Celtics as a project, he never got close to what the Celtics envisioned. Despite his athletic gifts and being a legit 7’0”, he got in just six games for Boston last season and spent most of the season in the D-League developing his game (he was named to the D-League All-Defensive First Team and D-League All-Rookie First Team). The most notable thing he did as a rookie was get a concussion walking into a doorway. Boston traded him to Memphis. When Memphis waived him he took a camp invite from Dallas, but that was never the long term answer.

Dallas also cut Balkman, who looked good for Puerto Rico in the FIBA America’s tournament, likely now returns to Europe for the season.

This week begins PBT’s team-by-team season preview, going through all 30 squads. We are starting in the deep Atlantic Division that could well send four teams to the playoffs, and we will move West from there. Next up, your New York Knicks.

Last season: Good God, where to begin. Uh, they beat Boston in their first game and looked like they would be a legit Eastern power. Then the wheels fell off and fell off some more, and then Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire both got injured and the team was screwed and everything was darkness. But wait! There came a voice of redemption in the night, and his name was Linsanity. OK, not literally, literally it was Jeremy Lin, and all of a sudden the undrafted sophomore who was less than a few days away from being cut exploded onto the scene. He dropped 38 on Kobe and the Gang, toppled the defending champs, and basically set the sports world on fire.

(Gasp for air.)

Then Amar’e came back and things were still great and they had an offense and then Melo came back and well, not so much anymore. The Heat and Knicks figured out Lin and they were struggling a little bit and OH WAIT, MIKE D’ANTONI RESIGNED. So then Mike Woodson takes over and Jeremy Lin gets hurt and Amar’e Stoudemire gets hurt (again), and then Melo goes on a tear and the Knicks look good because Anthony’s destroying everything and then the playoffs came and it turns out that isolation-centric basketball versus a team that likes to isolate and swarm the ball-handler and plays the best position defense in the league isn’t a good idea and the Knicks got their tails kicked and lost in the first round, the end.

Key Departures: They could have matched the offer for Jeremy Lin and kept him, adding a huge amount of salary to a team that has never acted as if it cared a lick about the luxury tax or salary concerns… but then they got high? No. They elected to pass on Lin and the poison pill in his third year. It was an… unpopular move with Knicks fans, let’s just leave it at that.

Josh Harrellson is also gone, along with Baron Davis and Mike Bibby. Jared Jeffries, Renaldo Balkman, Bill Walker, every Williams they had on roster, and Landry Fields. Oh, and Toney Douglas.

Key Additions: J.R. Smith comes back at a discount price, as does Steve Novak. Raymond Felton is the new starting point guard, and Jason Kidd comes to the City as a reserve. Ronnie Brewer helps their wing depth, especially defensively with Iman Shumpert out until after the start of the year. Marcus Camby becomes the first legit reserve big man for the Knicks since God knows when, and Kurt Thomas is still plugging along behind him. Pablo Prigioni joins the club at a ripe age to provide an emergency reserve point guard.

Three keys to Knicks season:

1) ISOMelo works. You can’t misread the Knicks’ intention. They can talk about teamwork and chemistry, about using all their weapons, about getting everyone involved. That’s great. But the decision to jettison Lin, the decision to retain Mike Woodson at head coach, bringing in players who played with Carmelo Anthony before in Denver, everything speaks to a clear statement of purpose: Get Melo his. Amar’e Stoudemire can work on his post moves all he wants, and Tyson Chandler can remain the most efficient big man in the game. That ball is going through Melo first and last and a lot in-between.

This is who the Knicks are. There’s a high feeling of resentment from certain sections of Knicks fans about this, that it’s getting overblown. But consider how Woodson ran his teams in Atlanta, with so many isolation plays for different players, but especially Joe Johnson. Consider the removal of a point guard who might challenge for control of the offense. And consider everything we’ve seen for the year and a half since Anthony was traded to New York. He’s the ticket-seller, the marquee name, the big star. They’re going to make sure he feels comfortable. And whether it’s what’s best for him or not, he feels most comfortable in the high or wing post, typically facing up to jab-step his way into a jumper. That’s who he is, and when he’s on, he’s one of the most deadly offensive players in the league.

That has to work. Despite schemes in the NBA built to victimize isolation, despite the plethora of talent surrounding him, and despite the low probability that it will be successful, this is what the Knicks have decided on, and that’s what they have to make work. Maybe it can, and I’m just missing the brilliance of this approach. But either way, if they’re going to succeed, that has to go over big.

2) Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire have to learn to co-exist, basketball-wise. Anthony’s not going to have a 99% usage factor, so yeah, there will be other people involved, and one of those needs to be Stoudemire. He dealt with a huge number of injury issues and many are moving towards just dropping him in the pile of overpaid sub-stars (oh, hey Carlos Boozer, didn’t see you there). But Stoudemire has legitimate reasons to suggest that he can bounce back this season with time to heal from last year’s injuries, and could regain some of his offensive explosiveness, even if the ship on his defense has long ago sailed.

But the problem has been that Anthony and Stoudemire have been absolutely wretched on the floor together. Stoudemire and Anthony played 976 minutes together last year and the Knicks were -2.4 in plus-minus during those minutes. They were outscored by their opponent with their two best offensive players on the floor. Now, there are some things the Knicks can do to get the involved separately, such as Raymond Felton rekindling the pick and roll with Stoudemire he had developed before the Anthony trade sent him to Denver. And Stoudemire has worked on his post game, which is, in and of itself, a move to appease the ISOMelo offense (Stoudemire getting out of the way from his preferred work at the elbow.

But they’re going to have to figure out how to play on the floor at the same time. Mike Woodson hasn’t even been willing to discuss the idea of bringing Stoudemire off the bench or keeping them in different rotations. Again, this is just how it is, and it’s something they have to figure out.

3) The defense better maintain. Drove me nuts last year trying to get people to understand that the Knicks were a great defensive team. People were used to Mike D’Antoni’s reputation, and they wouldn’t listen to anything otherwise. Woodson’s involvement as an assistant certainly was the difference and their defense maintained after D’Antoni’s departure. They were an elite defense, and in reality, they were well-built for the postseason. They were a defensive team that slowed the game down and ground it out, with a great rim protector down low. That’s a good formula for playoff success.

The offense this season won’t be improved enough to allow for defensive slippage, though. The Knicks have to keep their defensive principles and activity up, with an older roster. They’ll still be in need of Stoudemire to at least not be a weakness, and in truth, they need Anthony to be the kind of defender he’s capable of being at his best as opposed to the one he so often is. They can’t afford to tumble down defensively at any significant level.

What one thing should scare Knicks fans? Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler both have injury histories which are a concern. Carmelo Anthony missed time last season. If Anthony goes out for any time, after they’ve built their entire solar system around the Melo Sun, what happens? If Stoudemire goes down again, that means it’s time to re-evaluate his long-term viability and that’s a big contract under the new CBA to deal with as a liability. And if Chandler were to miss time, that’s the core of their defense. He is to their defense what Anthony is to their offense, only, you know, he’s actually better at it.

Beyond on-the-court stuff, though, the biggest thing that should scare Knicks fans is how the organization is run. Willing to overpay for any player but Jeremy Lin? CAA having ties in not just the players but in executives and even the coaching staff? Isiah Thomas sniffing around again? This is not exactly the painting of a picture you want for your front office. What else is new?

How it likely works out: Here’s the thing. The Knicks are a really good team. They honestly are. They’re going to be a very good team this year. They have an elite player in Carmelo Anthony. They have an elite player defensively who can also contribute in huge ways offensively in Tyson Chandler. Amar’e Stoudemire is not so far removed from the MVP-candidate he was three years ago. They have depth, Mike Woodson is a really good coach overall and in his preparation. He has a history of success.

Their model, like I said above, is sound. This is a team that has the model you want for a championship contender. They rely on their defense to get stops and put the ball in the hands of their elite offensive player. This is a formula that has worked in the NBA in the past. The Knicks will be a competitive team that is great on defense, and at times will be great offensively. They will look like world-beaters at times and like dregs some of the time. They’ll make the playoffs and depending on the seeding, might be able to muscle out a first-round win. But that’s pretty much their ceiling. They’re a very good team, which is nothing to sneeze at. But they’re paying for and selling to the fans the idea of a great team, and they’re just not that. Unless Carmelo Anthony puts together one of the all-time seasons in NBA history, not this year, but all-time, then the Knicks won’t wind up in a dramatically different spot than where they finished last year. That’s nothing to be ashamed of, that’s quite an accomplishment for a team that has such trouble being respectable last decade. It’s just not where the Knicks act like they are.

Prediction: 47-35, which is just what Kurt put the Sixers at on Monday. The Knicks, the Nets, and the Sixers all should wind up in about the same spot, battling for a fourth-to-sixth seed in the East. The only question will be if it’s a season that feels like they maximized their potential and it wasn’t good enough, or one where they fell short, but that just leaves more reason to believe next year they’ll put it together.

I can see no reasonable scenario in which the Knicks win the 2013 NBA Championship.